2023-11-14 02:27:49
Prices are rising very quickly in Argentina. The country actually saw its inflation rise to 142.7% in October over one year, compared to 138.3% in September. This index, among the highest in the world, is destined to weigh on the second round of the presidential election, in six days, between the Minister of the Economy (centrist) Sergio Massa and the ultraliberal Javier Milei.
Over one month, however, the price increase decelerated, to +8.3% in October, compared to +12.7% in September according to indices published Monday by the National Institute of Statistics (Indec). Since the start of 2023, cumulative inflation stands at 120%.
A particularly indecisive vote
Record inflation, which in recent months has reached unprecedented levels for thirty-two years in Latin America’s third largest economy, has dominated the presidential campaign, in the run-up to a particularly indecisive election.
Sergio Massa, Minister of the Economy for sixteen months, was unable to stop the slide towards a three-digit index (inflation was 94.8% in 2022), but tried to convince of a future reversal of tendency. He came first in the first round on October 22, with 36.68% of the votes.
Javier Milei, an ultraliberal “anti-system” economist, who promised “chainsaw” cuts in public spending, privatizations, and dollarization of the economy, came second with 29.98% of the votes, a performance for a newcomer launched into politics barely two years ago.
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